Unexpected
by DragoonTheBoss
Summary: The consequences of loving the wrong person can prove to be deadly. When love is insatiable, however, we make sacrifices. Z/A.
1. Unexpected

***100 years later***

So. I'm re-writing my dear Zipster-chapters. I couldn't even look at the old ones; they were so badly written I just _had_ to do this.

Enjoy. And if you're not into same sex-relationships I suggest you to GTFO before I kick your tight little homophobic ass.

Again, English is not my native language so don't be too hard on me. I also don't like constructive cristism.

Now, let me begin this with these lyrics, they're like the hidden meaning of this chapter. Or something like that. Yeah.

* * *

_All I ever wanted_

_All I ever needed_

_Is here in my arms_

_Words are very unnecessary_

_They can only do harm_

* * *

Zip tried to control himself. Seeing his beauty's being packed down in boxes didn't really make his new day. In fact, nothing seemed to go right this day. Today, just _everything_ went wrong. He scratched his head and tried to calm down, even though it didn't work at all.

"What the _hell_, Lara?!" he yelled as the female entered the room, looking slightly amused as she took a quick look around the desks.

"Try to look at the bright side of it, Zip – I'm actually doing you a favour."

"Oh, really? _The bright side_? What can possibly be bright about this?" Lara smirked and leaned forward, making Zip even more enraged for acting all insignificant.

"Many things. Especially your exercise. Why don't you-"

"Have you _totally_ lost it? Exercise? Lara, just look at me. I'm-"

"Thin as a stick." Zip and Lara spun around just to see Alister stand in the entrance with a thick, dusty-looking book under his arm. It seemed that he found it hard to resist the evil temptation to smile. Zip's already bad mood sank from irritated to furious. If anything or anyone could make this day even worse it was this self-absorbed, irritable, sulky bookworm. Alister walked a few steps down the stairs.

"Really, you should read some more books instead of sitting in front of these…", he looked around to find words strong enough to describe the computers, "… these bloody, brain killing, ugly _things _all day long", he completed and gently stroked his precious book as if it was some sort of treasure. Zip rolled his eyes as if he dealing with a hopeless case.

Deep down, he didn't really know _what_ they were arguing about and _why_ they were acting so childish towards each other. What he knew was that Alister were getting on his nerves and had done that ever since he got here. From the very beginning, Alister had _always_ put himself first and never shown any interest in his colleague nor his life. He hadn't even cared to ask his age. They just worked together, and if they actually _did _have a conversation, it was in a distress when they couldn't just glare at each other. Zip shook his head and sighed. There was no point in continuing this. He sat down in his chair and leaned back. Alister raised his eyebrows á la some bully.

"Did you swallow your tongue just now, or what?" Zip got up. There _was_ a point in continuing this.

"You f-"

"Hey! Just_ drop it,_ please!" Lara's voice cut through the tense air like a sharp knife. Both men became silent. Lara being furious was never a good sign. Furious meant guns. Guns meant death. At least some injury. Lara looked to Zip, to Alister and then back to Zip, her eyes wide open.

"What's wrong with you two anyway?" Zip said nothing, although he seemed annoyed. Alister just snorted and shot a very superior glance at Zip, just to stress his everyday growing-ego, Zip thought and glanced him angrily.

"Don't worry, Lara", said Alister, "he probably just woke up on the-"

"_Alister_!" Lara shouted and suddenly looked hysterical. Alister almost dropped his book by fear. Even he dared not to upset his boss.

"Um, w-what?" he said a bit more reserved, although he couldn't hide the big puppy eyes nor his body language that seemed to scream out the words _have mercy_. A wide, mean smile suddenly appeared on Zip's lips as he eagerly looked at Lara to see her next action, strongly giving the impression of being some dumb, wannabe rebellious ghetto-kid who was watching a fistfight, screaming out the lack of intelligence-word "FIGHT!" until his throat became sore. But Lara just crossed her arms and chuckled a bit.

"It's all right, I'm not going to shoot you (Alister let out a weak cry and Zip's smile grew even wider), but I was wondering why you are here. I thought you went to the library...?" Alister returned to his normal state, even though he still seemed nervous and was constantly checking Lara's holsters.

"Unfortunately not. I was just… ah, never mind. I've got some work left in the library. See you chaps, no… not _you_ by the way", he shot a mean glance at Zip, "later." He turned around and left the room without a single word. Zip raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously... why is he _always_ picking on me? Lara?"

But Lara seemed lost in thought and wasn't paying any attention to Zip. She was looking at the spot Alister just had been standing on for a while ago.

"What if… Zip, I think I'm going outside for a while." Zip sighed and looked at Winston, who was still busy with stuffing down his precious computers into huge boxes. There wasn't much that kept him from taking them back.

"But what am I supposed to do? I have… _nothing_ here." Lara rolled her eyes as she made her way to the outer door. Clearly she had something more important on her mind.

"Well, if you don't know, Zip, then how could I? Use your imagination." And she slammed the door shut in his face. Zip took a hopeless look around the room.

"Ah, this is hell…"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Alister walked down the stairs slowly – he was so absorbed by the book he was reading at the moment that he would've smashed someone's head in if he got interrupted. Suddenly, something hard hit his torso, and even though it was a small hit, it almost made him fall to the ground. He looked up, ready to kill.

"Watch were you're… Oh." His eyes grew narrow of the sight. "It's you."

At first, Zip looked confused, wondering why Alister seemed so irritated, but then he remembered. He scratched the back of his head, uncertain of what to say.

"Um… look", he began slowly and tried to keep eye contact with the man in front of him. "I owe you an apology." Alister waited. It was obvious that he was still upset by Zip's earlier acting, even though _he_ was the one who'd started it all. He's so blown-up, Zip thought annoyed. Alister crossed his arms and stared at him. Zip took a deep breath and said very quickly:

"I guess I said some-"

"I was just trying to give you a piece of good advice", Alister cut off with a slightly disappointed expression on his face. Zip stared at the archeologist, now even more confused. Was he actually forgiving him? _The egoistic, conservative bookworm_?

"Really? Then what was that bitchy comment about then?" Alister made an I'm-so-sorry-but-I-was-just-being-honest-look which made Zip feel even more sceptical. _At least I'm used to it_, he thought unhappy.

Alister held out his hand. A little smiled had appeared on his lips.

"Friends?" Zip hesitated, wondering if Alister was playing him a trick, but took the hand and shook it.

"Yeah, sure."

Alister grinned. Releasing Zip's hand, he began to walk upstairs, once again reading his dearly beloved book.

"Wait, where're you going?" Zip asked, a bit frustrated by Alister's sudden move. He always went before things got a little too personal for his taste.

"To the library", came a nonchalant answer.

"To the library", Zip repeated silently in a ridiculed, exaggerated British voice and made a childish but perfect imitation of Alister reading a book, who fortunately didn't notice anything.

He slumped into an armchair in front of the big, cosy fireplace. Its crackling, orange flames made him sleepy just by looking at them, and his eyes felt sore by the heat. Slowly, he looked away from the fireplace and leaned back a bit. He tried to think of _something_ he could do in the coming three days, excluding the idea of sitting in front of a computer. Maybe he should talk to Alister? No, that nerd would just force him to read more boring, educating books and drink litres of tea. He sighed and took a quick, hopeless look around himself. Just when he was about to get up to go outside and get some fresh air, he heard a weak, panic-stricken voice coming from the stairs:

"Dear… _God_…"

Paralysed, Alister had stopped walking and was now standing on the furthest step of the staircase. Since Zip only saw his back, he couldn't tell if he looked shocked, but judging by the sound of his voice, he was. Zip immediately got up.

"Hey man! You okay?" Apparently he wasn't, because barely a second later, he collapsed right on the spot.

"_Alister_!" the hacker shouted and quickly ran up to him to check if he was still breathing and, Zip shivered by the thought, fully alive.

Fortunately, he was.

Zip let out a small sigh of relief and sat down. He was still very anxious though, and when he looked at Alister's face he noticed that a small amount of blood was flowing out of his nostrils. _What the hell… that's_ _nosebleed? He fainted because of that? _Zip wrinkled his eyebrows.

This could turn out quite interesting after all.

When Lara got home, the first thing she saw in front of her when she closed the big oak-door, was Zip and Alister, who was lying on the couch, apparently asleep. _What a peculiar scene_, she thought a bit confused and entered the main hall, still not completely free from the thoughts of the recent event that seemed to fill up her mind like a very powerful memory. She tried to push them away for later reflection. Zip sighed of relief when he saw her.

"Finally! You've been away for more than two hours! Where have you-"

"Why don't you calm down, Zip", Lara interrupted sharply, "and tell me what's wrong with Alister. Why is he asleep?" She didn't sound angry, just determined and gave Zip an encouraging look to continue. Zip shot an uncertain, quick glance at Alister's sleeping, peaceful face and then said: "Hell, I don't know! Suddenly, he got all weird and shaky and just... well, collapsed! Oh, and he sounded kinda, what's the word..." Zip pondered for a moment, his face rigid by concentration, "well, _scared_ before he fainted." Lara looked just as confused as Zip felt like.

It made no sense at all.

Alister fainting randomly? And by no other reason than sudden terror? It just didn't fit in. She sat down on the other couch and glanced at the ceiling, thinking fast and hard. Her gaze swept by the table, Zip, Alister and then suddenly the table again, because the thing that was lying there had caught her attention. She leaned forward to get a better look at it.

It was a handkerchief... with something red on it.

"Is that what I think it is?" Zip nodded.

"That's the funny part. Okay, he had a nosebleed, but... did he actually faint because of _that_? And if he actually _did_... man, what a pussy." Lara's eyes narrowed for a few seconds, but it looked like the mystery had been solved.

"You said _nosebleed_? I see..." Zip's eyes grew big.

"What?" he immediately yelled and jumped up from his chair. Lara looked at the American with a severe face.

"What about Alister?" he said, this time with more eager in his voice. Lara crossed her arms and then finally spoke: "Well, if he haven't told you yet, I suppose I should." She paused and frowned. Zip held his breath, afraid that he was going to die of curiosity.

"Alister... he has this, hmm, _problem_ with seeing, touching or smelling blood." She pointed at the red handkerchief. An expression of understanding ran across Zip's face.

"What?" Lara nodded and continued: "It's called Hemophobia. It's not that he's being oversensitive and a wimp, not at all. He just... can't take blood in all its shapes and forms." Zip raised his eyebrows even more and Lara became silent. They found themselves just staring at the sleeping Alister, giving some space to think.

"So _that's_ why..." Zip's face twisted with pain as he maybe for the thousand time wondered who this man really was. He knew so little of him it was almost sad, and the lack of information made him feel like a total stranger. "Then I really can't blame him." Lara sighed tiredly, got up from the sofa and then began to strech every inch of her lithe body. Zip chuckled and shook his head.

"You're going to do that all night?" Lara just smiled rather ironicly and let her hair out, the shiny, nutbrown hair fell quickly over her shoulders. She looked remarkably beautiful where she stood.

"No, I was just getting ready for bed." Lara looked at him in that sort of x-ray-way that made him feel like she was looking right through him. "You should get some sleep as well." Zip hesitated. He didn't want to leave Alister.

Not now.

Not when he felt like this.

He blushed when he realized how strange his train of thoughts were.

"Zip?"

Zip jumped at the sudden voice but immediately identified it as Lara's. He looked at her as if he'd never actually seen her before.

_Back to reality._

"Um, yeah?"

"I said _goodnight_." That damn, accusing look on her face made Zip feel even more awkward about the situation.

"Yeah, nighty. By the way...", he shot a quick glance at Alister, who was still sleeping, "what shall we do about him?" Lara raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I suppose he'll have to sleep on the couch, no? There's no point in waking him up now." Zip nodded and began to make his way to the techroom, feeling somewhat disturbed by Lara's smile.

If she hadn't been there... He froze when he reached out his hand to open the door.

_What am I thinking?_

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

As Zip woke up the next morning, a strange feeling had taken place within him. A dark, undescribable feeling that didn't seem to go away. Unsure of what it might be, he sat up.

Something felt wrong, very wrong. No matter what he thought of, he couldn't get the unpleasant feeling off of his mind. Then, a sudden flashback came out of nowhere. He put his hand to his forhead and sighed.

_Hell. _

_My computers. _

Angry, he got out of bed and began to put some clothes on.

"Jesus, Zip, what's with you?" Lara seemed anxious as the little sunshine entered the kitchen with a grumpy "good morning", very different from his usual, jumpy appearance. Zip sat down next to Alister and decided to ignore the cup of coffee that had been placed in front of him. Not even his precious coffee could turn this terriable, new morning into something good. He glared at Lara.

"My computers", he hissed and sounded strikingly alike Dracula when he said it. Lara fought an invincible urge to laugh and tried to compose herself, but since Zip was a good friend of hers, she didn't want to make a fool out of him.

"Please, _do_ forgive me, Zip, but it's for your own good."

"But-"

"But you should listen to your boss." Zip felt a sting of irritation when he heard Alister's voice. He was incrediblysick of all the smart ass-comments. Didn't he _ever _learn?

"I see you're completely recovered, foureyes." Alister sighed and mumled something about being hopeless before he got up and left the room in a hurry.

"Can't you two just make up?" Zip stared at Lara as if she didn't know what she was talking about.

"You don't understand – it's not that simple. Sure, I can make up, but can _he_? He's so self-absorbed he can't even clean his goddamn desk after himself." He made an expression of contempt. "Ya know what I'm saying, Lara? Like he's so much better than us."

"Oh, Zip..." When Lara sat down, she had that kind of insecure look on her face – the one you always have when you don't know if you should speak or just shut up.

"We need him. Okay, _I _need him", she added when she saw Zip's face. "I know he's not acting fair towards you." Zip made a grunt that made him sound like a bear to show his consent.

"But..." she shot a quick look at him before she continued, "you_ know_ he've had a tough time during his early years". She stopped, looked around to see if someone was nearby, found out there wasn't, and then continued: "But I really, really need his help so could you please just bare with it, Zip?" He took a deep breath and forced himself to look at her. This was something he would never be able to tell her, he realized – how complicated his relationship with Alister was. It was like walking on black ice – if you took a single step wrong, if your foot slipped, it would break.

"Okay", he said calmly.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The almost dusty library was his truly home. Even though Croft Manor contained many, many big and luxury rooms and halls, this was where he belonged. Here he could spend hours after hours reading one book after the other and _never_ be interrupted by some small, pathetic reason.

Well, almost never.

Zip tried to open the door as carefully as possible but Alister – who could tell from total silence from tiny, mechanical sounds entering his nerdy, educating world – immediately looked up and sighed deeply when he saw who the intruder of peace was.

"What now?" he asked lightly as he began to gather up some abandoned papers. "Ah, you're here to insult me with that clever tongue of yours again, am I right?"

"Is that all you can think of me?" Zip exclaimed, clearly upset. "What _is_ your problem exactly? Your problem with me." Alister raised one eyebrow and looked down to read something.

"I never said I've got a problem with you." Zip snorted.

"Yeah, sure. And I'm a living angel, just dropped down from heaven to say hello." Alister bit his tongue to resist the temptation to smile. He weren't even reading, his eyes were just staring at the paper. All this faked concentration made him think if Zip had figured him out already.

_God_,Zip was stupid.

His attention was once again drawn to the man as he spoke.

"Anyway, I just want you to know that I've got _nothing_ against you, really." He paused to think for a second. "Well, except that you've obviously got a problem with me." Alister slammed his fist onto the table.

"I _said_... you're not the problem." He hesitated. "I am." Zip blinked unsympathetically and tried to catch on.

"Wait, what are you saying?" Alister shook his head. For a few moments, Zip was convinced that he was going to reveal something, but then...

"No. You wouldn't understand."

"Yes, I would."

"No", Alister repeated and smiled mysteriously, "you wouldn't." Zip crossed his arms like a five year old and murmured something. Alister prepared for an attack and carefully moved his papers to a safer area, in case Zip would overturn the table. The American exploded:

"So we're keeping secrets from each other now?!"

"I don't remember you've earned the right to know details about my personal life. We just work together, right?" Zip opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, but his voice didn't seem to obey him. The chilly reply had indeed taken it's turn on him. For the very first time, Alister had won one of their arguments. Zip felt embarrassed as he stood there and tried to remember how to speak properly. He realized an apology was necessary.

"I'm sorry. You're totally right. I..." he trailed off and tried to think of something to say, but his brain seemed out of service at the moment. "I feel so stupid right now", he whispered and looked guiltily at the floor. To his surprise, that incredibly annoying gay-chuckle of Alister's was heard behind the papers and seemed to shake the walls. Zip frowned.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you."

"No, I thought you were cute."

"Yeah, funny."

"I was being serious."

Zip looked at him.

_As Zip stumbled into the room, he had no idea he was about to witness an intense meeting between two lovers. At first, he froze when he saw Alister's bared chest. Then he saw the other guy; something in the back of his head told him that the face was familiar. Then he saw what they were doing. _

"_Aw, caught red-handed, Al", Alberic smiled and sent Zip an insignificant stare, his grip of Alister's waist tightened as he teasingly kissed his neck. Alister tried to push him away but was no match for the tall, more muscular man._

"_What are you looking at?" the other man asked rather angrily. "Can't you see Al and Al wants to be alone?"_

"_Zip!" Alister exclaimed and broke free from the Alberic's grip, his eyes succeeded in expressing the feelings shock, embarrassment and fear at the same time._

"_Zip, I'm-" But no good thought came to his mind, no great excuse for the fact that two men had been in one bedroom at the same time, probably doing some pretty private stuff, too. Zip just stood there, absolutely perplexed._

"Are you hitting on me, Alister?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No."

Zip slowly rose his eyebrows. Alister had said the last word a bit _too_ innocently and quickly, and the American wasn't entirely stupid. Now, he wasn't a liedetector, but he could pretty much tell when a person was lying. He looked at him with his dark, intense eyes. In what seemed like ultrarapid, Alister finally looked up to meet his gaze.

"Why are you lying to me, Alister?" The historian flinched, probably uncomfortable by Zip's way of using his name.

"I'm not", he said defiantly and then shrugged. Zip's eyes immediately noticed the movement, though.

"If you weren't lying, you wouldn't have shrugged while talking. It's one of the most obvious things to do, Al." For a moment, the historian looked speechless. Then he continued with a little, nervous laugh: "You've watched too many episodes of that show."

"What show?" Zip asked with clear tone of confusion in his voice. Alister's controlled expression shifted to an insecure smirk as he once again fumbled with the papers.

"That... ah, what's it called again? I can't even remember the-"

"Why don't you just tell me as it is, Alister?" Zip smiled, but it wasn't that mean, evil smile of malicious pleasure that nearly always were playing on his lips. Alister held his breath and wondered if this was the right time to leave. Or perhaps the right time to...? He realized that he was shaking when the thoughts filled his mind.

"Tell you what?" he murmured helplessly and noticed that the other man was standing closer to him than before. He clutched his fists under the table. Zip sighed demonstratively with acted consideration.

"Well, I _think _you know what I'm talking about." Alister stood up – wherever this conversation led them to, he didn't like it.

"What exactly are you implying? That I'm...", he laughed, obviously amused by the thought, "_in love_ with you? Is that what you think?"

"Yes." Zip's smile widened. "Something like that." Alister made a sound that in some way reminded Zip of a gorilla.

"Then I'm _terribly_ sorry to tell you the truth –no, I'm not. Why on earth would I-"

"You're so self-controlled, but I can see that you're hiding something from me." He moved even closer and put one of his hands on Alister's shoulder in a, what he thought, friendly manner. "Why can't you _ever_ be spontaneous, Alister? You always have to think everything to death. Can't you just feel what you feel and..." Alister rose his eyebrows so high they disappeared behind his bangs.

"And...?" But the weird, abstract atmosphere was already gone. Zip took his hand back and looked thoughtful. He had a strange expression on his face.

"Nothing", he said with a hollow voice. He blinked and looked away, clearly avoiding eye contact. Alister looked sceptical.

"You're _sad_?"

"No", Zip said, and his irritated voice increased in volume, "I'm disappointed."

"Why are-"

"Because I simply thought that you were stronger. It's pathetic to lie about such obvious things." Alister felt like he'd just fallen down an endless, black hole, unable to cling onto something. He wasn't shaking any more, but an extreme numbness seemed to control his fingers and the rest of his body. He realized there was no point in lying.

"It's that obvious, huh?"

"You're kidding? The way you overreacts in everything I say or do, you're amusing attempts in _constantly _avoiding me and... the way you look at me."

Alister sighed and an awkward, tense silence fell upon them.

_Okay, idiot - you won. I hope you're bloody happy about it. You wanted me defeated, so here I am._

Alister's mind didn't seem to produce any happy, useful thoughts. He just sat there, refusing to look at Zip and his superior, judging eyes.

_If he'd really wanted something from me, he would have said it ages ago. Or would he?_

"Is it really that bad then? If I... like you?" As soon as he'd said that, he knew that the words came straight from his heart. Zip's eyes moved from the floor he'd been staring on for the last two minutes to Alister's shoulder.

"I didn't say it was a problem. I said you're a coward." Alister slowly raised both of his eyebrows in grave confusion. He didn't get it at all. Zip's fury made absolutely no sense, especially in this weird situation. If he hadn't told him because he didn't want to, that was _his_ own damnproblem. But why did Zip had to go and be all bitchy about it? All these thoughts were interrupted when his hand seemed to be moving on its own, his mind unable to control the intense, sudden urge to touch the other man. Zip said nothing, but a knowing, almost affectionate expression could be seen on his face. Alister's arm jerked; his mind was obviously stronger after all.

"Sorry", he breathed and the blush made him even more aware of the big mistake he'd just made.

"Don't apologize for everything."

"Sorry." Zip laughed, and the atmosphere lightened immediately. At first, Alister just smiled excusably, for his experiences told him that it was the right thing to do, but he began soon to chuckle, and once he'd started, he found it very hard to stop. He didn't even notice that Zip was now caressing his previous betraying hand. He couldn't pretend he didn't feel it, but he had absolutely no idea how to react whatsoever. He just kept looking at Zip's hand, which now began to move its way to his neck, his chest, his left cheek and then back to his neck. Alister's eyes were half closed, his breathing became faster and his mouth was dry. For a few moments, they just stared at each other. Alister said, amazed by the discover:

"You, of all people?"

"Well, yeah. You were too busy being an ass to see it." Alister laughed and took Zip's other hand.

"And you couldn't bother telling me this a _little_ earlier?" Zip looked a bit thoughtful for a second, but his expression didn't change very much.

"Well... I am now, right?" Alister smiled when he felt his lips against his, the tingling feeling of pure happiness ran through his whole body as he let out a small moan when their kiss deepened. Alister let Zip's tongue play inside his mouth a bit before – since breathing became an issue – he quite roughly pulled away, leaving a dissatisfied Zip staring at him with pleading eyes.

"That was..."

"... unexpected? Good?"

"Both", Alister whispered, who was still trying to catch some air.

* * *

Please leave a review, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Thanks for reading! ~Hanna


	2. Monster Within

Okay, so finally - after 100 years - here's the rebooted version of chapter two! :D You better like it because it took me a hella lot of time. xD

Remember what I said about constructive critism? Well, the facts remains the same. I don't want any because I really don't give a shit about what people think of my fanfics. I see fanfiction as pure entertainment and nothing else. And no, I don't take it seriously!

This chapter mostly contains, hmm... swearwords, mystery, graphic sex, more mystery (yay) and two sincerely hot boys. HAPPY NOW?! :D

Peace and love, Hanna.

* * *

"I... I couldn't even imagine you being... in my wildest dreams..." He panted while glancing at Zip, obviously still in total shock, and he could see that his kisser didn't look too secure himself.

"Me neither", the hacker admitted as he reluctantly released Alister's arms for some explanation. "I guess some part of me has always known, while some other part has tried to ignore it, but..." He made a pause, wrinkling his eyebrows as he thought. "But when I saw you", he smiled and looked knowingly at Alister, "_man_, I was lost." He backed a few steps, as if the sentence needed him to. "You're really one of a kind", he added a bit shyly and his eyes fell down.

"What's that suppose to mean? That I'm some sort of freak?" Alister said a bit annoyed and moved demonstratively back to his desk, but the smile on his lips fooled him. The faked acting didn't seem to bring any good out of Zip, though, rather the opposite. He quickly used those long legs to make his way to the desk, sat down and made sure to bring Alister close to his own body. Alister frowned when half of his work fell on to the cold, woody floor. He offered Zip one of his most angry stares and pushed him away.

"I had sorted those, thank you so bloody much." Zip just shrugged, mumbled some apology and seemed to pay more attention to the window than the mess he'd just created. Alister sighed, squat down and began to gather up the papers, once again amazed by Zip's incredible ability of being so ungrateful and careless.

"You know what, I'm almost glad you didn't-" He gasped slightly when he felt two hands on his back, two hands that soon weren't placed on his back, but his chest. And he kissed him again, those incredibly soft lips against his, while Zip impatiently ripped off his shirt. Alister held back a tiny moan since he was too aware, too terribly aware of what would happen to Zip if he made any noises from now on. His body was tense and alarmingly numb; he couldn't move and still he just sat there and let things happen.

Damn. Zip was a real wizard at this. He half-heartedly tried to push him away. To his frustration, Zip became even more eager to complete his little task when he did this.

"Zip..." His voice sounded uncertain and miles away from convincing. He got shut up by another kiss and in the confused mist of his thoughts, he couldn't think of what to do. Alister began to offer stubborn, quite violent resistance, and Zip, who with a confused look stopped his work, made a sound of noisy contempt and frustration.

"Hey!" was all he managed to exclaim as he finally broke free from his grip. "That's a little... a little..." He blushed slightly and didn't complete the sentence, but the message wasn't too hard to get. Zip backed away a few steps, leaned back on the table but made sure not to take his eyes off of Alister.

"I get it if you're not ready." Alister shrugged.

"That's not exactly how it is. I just don't think this is the greatest place to...

"Screw?" Zip finished unimpeded and offered a hand to help him up. He looked disappointed. Alister pulled himself up but made sure to keep a fair distance between himself and Zip.

"I'm not going to lunge at you." He bent down, picked up Alister's shirt and gave it to him, but found it quite difficult to release it completely. He watched him put it back on, wondering why he treated him so nicely.

_Maybe it's because you love him, stupid,_ a tiny, inner creature of him muttered.

_Yeah yeah, I'm sure you're right, _he answered with a placate voice. When Alister sat down behind his desk again, returning to his normal, nerdy, boring self, Zip said straight out:

"Ya know what, I'm going out. But I'll return later."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Lara was for the time being in the entrance hall, sitting in her favorite, old sagged sofa. Thoughts flied around like confused mosquitoes as she studied the painted and scripted walls for the third and last time. Her manor had a lot of hidden history, not to mention the dusty basement that had been there for God knows how long, and thanks to her impressive collection of some very valuable and great artifacts, she barely never came across something that was beyond description. She sighed patiently and walked closer towards the wall, observing every inch of the historical painting. She reached out a hand to touch the rough surface.

"Blood..." She bit her lower lip in concentration. She could feel that the answer was out there, hanging silently in the air, just out of her reach.

And then she finally caught it like an unfortunate butterfly.

The answer came with a terrifying, sudden idea.

Zip walked down the stairs in a very cheerful, unconcerned mood – he didn't even care much that his computers were gone. No, his problems were like blown away as he sat down his foot on the last step – and let out a yelp of surprise. Not only had he stepped on something soft and fleshy, but the creature had also let out a very high and _very_ girl-ish shriek.

"Lara?"

"For Christ's sake, Zip, you almost broke my back!"

"Oh, sorry, I... I didn't look very carefully."

"Didn't look very... It's not like the sun suddenly went out of batteries, you know!" While small tears of pain streamed down her cheeks she gently tried to rub a spot on her left shoulder.

"Let me help you with that", Zip said immediately and dropped on to his knees.

"Thank you." She smiled gratefully and quickly relaxed all her limbs as Zip with very careful, small movements began to massage her back and neck. A few minutes later, a delayed question popped up in his head.

"Uh, Lara?"

"Mm?" She sounded like she was dreaming, apparently enjoying the treatment, but he could feel her attention.

"Yesterday, you left quite late in the afternoon for something. What were ya up to?"

A pause.

"Oh." She turned around, gave him a warm, appreciated smile and said thank you once again. "I was at the British Museum. They've recently imported this fantastic, modern Egyptian collection and I just _had_ to..."

"Yeah, I take your word for it." She laughed and gave him a small, friendly hit on the shoulder.

"It was actually really, really interesting. One relic was this big fork people used to shove it right up-"

"Okay, that's quite enough with the details, girl", Zip said evasively and got up on his feet. He was just about to start thinking what he should do next when he remembered what he'd said in the library. With a few quick steps he soon reached the outer door and opened it, not thinking twice about his next destination, and stepped out in the unusually dark, chilly evening. Before the door was closed behind him, he found himself staring back at Lara's surprised facial expression and hearing her voice ("Well, thanks for the massage then, Zip!") shouting the last reasonable sentence for this night.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Alister tried to discern the clock on the wall. His eyes felt feeble and tired after a long, troublesome read. He closed the book in front of him with a puzzled expression. Not that it hadn't been a nice read, but he was quite confused about it all.

Egyptian mythology.

"How much do you know?"

"How much do I know about what?" Lara had sighed impatiently. "Egyptian gods." Alister had made a short pause and then risen his eyebrows.

"Not much."

"Then read this. Read, and I'll tell you everything later."

That was it, although he was _still_ confused with the details. He knew enough about Egypt's gods to have a decent conversation about it, so why in the name of bloody hell would he have read an entire book about something he was already familiar with? But he soon began to read with growing interest, even though he'd known the basic facts for years. Finally, after approximately 35 minutes, he closed the scabby old-looking book, his concerned eyes flickering all over the library. He tried to discern the clock once again, hoping it would've gotten any brighter in the room, but it was as dark as before. Glancing around the table for any unsorted papers, he sighed, leaned back in the chair and decided to wait just a little bit longer for his guest to come.

He stumbled into the dark hall, making few pauses whenever he felt like he was going to fall and make more noise than a herd of running elephants. His breath smelled alcohol and something else, something fresh and warm, and both his hands were covered in a dark liquid. He desperately tried to remember what he'd done, but it was like constantly walking into an invisible wall, and he found as much answers in it as if he would've asked the doorknob. He walked around the room in circles, panic-stricken, biting his underlip so hard he soon could taste the warm blood in his mouth. What had he done? He couldn't remember a thing, and that part scared him the most. He stopped and turned his hands so the palms became visible in the gray moonlight. They, _he_, were shaking. And that excited feeling could not be mistaken from an adrenaline boost. Slowly, he reached out his tongue and licked some of the liquid up. Iron. It tasted iron. And it felt sort of... dry. He opened his eyes wide open, full of distastefulness.

It was blood. Dried blood.

And that unfamiliar taste that had been mixed together with the alcohol... it had probably tasted different _because_ of the alcohol. He spit on the ground and tried to force himself to forget he'd drunken someone else's blood.

"What the _fuck_ have I done?" Another wave of great, unreasonable hate was on its way, but less powerful this time. Every muscle stretched in him. He looked up to the other floor as a grin of slight insanity appeared on his lips.

He began to walk up the stairs.

Alister woke up from his short nap with a start, suddenly on his guard. He was very sure he'd heard voices downstairs, or at least a voice. He hadn't recognize it.

_Burglars_, he thought uneasily and squeezed the paper in his hand to a pointy little ball. For a brief moment, he considered if the idea of hiding underneath the desk was proper enough, but he soon changed his mind.

_You're a man, not a scared little mouse._ But he _was_ scared and his almost anorectic weight did no justice to his length. But before he could work out any good and not too dangerous plan, the door broke open and Zip charged into the room.

"Greetings, bookworm", he exclaimed loudly and put out his arms as if he wanted to hug him. Alister felt an laughable urge to yell in fury and scream of relief at the same time. He decided the latter was out of the question.

"Just practice a bit more and I'll have a heart attack next time!" Zip looked clearly offended and opened his mouth to say something, apparently forgot what and closed it quickly again. He took a step forward to Alister's desk, stumbled and fell headlong. Alister heard a damped "ouch" somewhere near his feet.

"Drunk much?" he said easily and returned to his previous work. "Now, I didn't expect to see you in this state, Zip, but I actually _did _take a short break from my work, so now is the right time for you to say something if you, ehm, can."

No answer but his steady breathing. Alister sighed. Had he fallen asleep? He bent down to check where his intruder was. Something, although he was pretty sure what, grabbed his ankle, pulled him down from the chair and straddled him to make sure he was unable to flee. Zip's face looked scary and unfamiliar in the moonlight.

"You know... there was this guy who just wanted to fuck me all over at the bar. I beat him up for that, told him to... I..." he trailed off and stared at the wall. The light in his eyes seemed to go out, empty and lifeless like a dolls. His mouth became a black hole. Then, he slowly shook his head in denial. Alister, angry and somewhat amused, didn't see any of this because of the dark.

"All over a very interesting and verbal story that I'd like to know more about but _excuse_ _me_, Zip; you're sitting on me." He tried to give Zip's ties small nudges in order to get him to move but failed miserably when he did so, and to make things all better the hard, unmerciful desk gave him a nice swelling on his head. Zip didn't act like he'd seen a ghost anymore, but he sounded weird when he asked straight out:

"Alister, what am I?" The historian interrupted his failed attempts in getting loose.

"What you are? Right now you're drunk, horny and bloody freaking me out at the same time. Now move the hell out of the way because you're splitting my spine." Surprised, he watched how Zip took both his legs off of him and sat down next to the chair.

"Well, how about that, I didn't expectsuch a polite manner from a yankee." Zip coughed something that sounded suspiciously alike the letters f and u. Alister's face darkened.

"So..." He put his legs in a sitting position and gazed him with that curious expression he always got whenever a great moment was at next.

"So...?" Zip repeated quite stupidly with shifting eyes.

"Why didn't you come earlier? I thought you'd a bit more... well, sober." He looked from Zip's staring, unsteady gaze, to his blushing cheeks and finally to his half open mouth, raising his eyebrows.

After that, several things happened at the same time.

Zip crawled out from his so called hiding place, apparently he'd gained some new strength, and grabbed Alister's thin wrist; Alister caught a quick glimpse of something shiny before he yet once again fell to the floor and got straddled by his admirer. His face twisted with fury.

"For_ fucks_ sake! Is this going to be a regular thing or something?! Stop doing that just out of the blue!" He paused to catch some air and calm down a little bit. "You know, it would be much, much more polite to _inform _your target before you attack him, King Kong." Zip had a humorous twinkle in his eye.

"Okay, Sir. Can I kiss You?" Something that looked like a smile began to grow on the historian's lips.

"There's no risk in tempting fate, is there?" They kissed, first slowly while helping each other to undress. Alister felt remarkably calm when the tip of Zip's tongue hit many places of his hot body and made him feel vulnerable for any future not so subtle-treatment. The last thing Zip removed from himself was a necklace Alister had never seen before. The odd thing was that he didn't threw it on the floor like he'd done with all the other clothes, but instead almost lovingly placed it on the desk. Alister wanted to ask why he would do that, but felt it wasn't exactly the right time to start a conversation now.

Zip looked at him again, and he was held prisoner by the most beautiful, intense, dark eyes he'd ever encountered as the taller man topped him once again. Alister moaned when he did, partly because the weight of him felt so good onto his own body, partly because the sheer excitement of the situation made him hard as a rock. Zip took two fingers and carefully licked them after offering Alister some of his saliva. Their tongues met and twirled, tasting each other's flavour as Zip let one of his hands, the one with the wet fingers, slide down to Alister's ass. Then, he slowly stretched him out and kissed his burning cheeks when tears of slight pain trickled down them. Alister kissed him back as an encouragement to go on.

When Zip leaned forward, reminding him where they were, he automatically raised himself up a bit and put his head back. His breathing became heavier and more unstable. Zip waited. He couldn't, on the other hand. Alister mumbled, dizzy by desire:

"Enter... enter me..."

Obeying his wish, Zip soon began to thrust in and out as Alister's loud moans filled up the room, picking up the pace whenever he moved faster. Zip got deep scratch marks on his back from Alister's fingernails, but he couldn't have cared less. If he scratched, he could bite. It didn't bother him at all. They kept going for minutes, exchanging a kiss once in a while, as both were brought closer to their climax. Alister shut his eyes and moaned his lovers name at the top of his voice, although he thought he was gonna die of breathing difficulties. He probably hadn't taken a single drawn-out breath in at least twenty minutes. Zip panted, rolled over at back and stayed there. Alister, somewhat recovered from his hyperventilation, watched how Zip's ribcage rose and lowered as he suddenly felt a strong affection for the man. Slowly and weakly, he snuggled closer to him and put his head on the sweaty chest, smiling.

"It was a pleasure being with you, yankee." Zip smiled back, and it was a sober one this time.

"Likewise, foureyes."

The monster within had fallen asleep, but he knew it was just the lull before the storm.

* * *

YOU LIKED THAT, DIDN'T YA?!


End file.
